I See You
by AristaHolmes
Summary: Inspired by the end of S04E12. They found the cure. Elena's taken it and now she's transitioning back into a human and every thing's about to change. Or is it? Delena.
1. Chapter 1

Her eyes snapped open and she drew in a sudden sharp breath.

Then another. Then Elena realised that she was gasping as her mind grasped the fact that she once again _needed_ to breathe.

"Elena...?"

She didn't respond to Stefan's voice for a long moment, taking some time to remember how to breathe, and to go over the memories clamouring for her attention.

After all the trouble, worry and fear, Silas had merely wanted to die. He had agreed to write down the cures' formula for them, on the condition that they let him take his own invention, and then kill him once he was mortal.

The deal had been struck.

Silas understood the dual blessing and curse of immortality and wanted those who chose to die to have that option. He wanted his cure to survive.

Bonnie had made a batch of the... potion?

Elena had taken her medicine like a good girl and now?

Now she had to deal with the reality her life had become since she had transitioned.

Blinking her eyes open once more, Elena turned to stare at Stefan, her face unchanging and she watched the familiar brooding frown cover his face.

He couldn't give her five minutes? Honestly?

She was faintly irritated. Except she wasn't. Elena was irritated, it's just that compared to her emotions as a vampire this feeling felt pale, and weak in comparison.

'_I miss it..._' she thought, freezing as she registered her own thoughts, and turned her gaze back to her bedroom ceiling as she considered it.

"Elena, are you...? How do you feel?"

"You mean am I still sired to Damon, right?" she asked, a little sharper than she had intended, but Stefan's flinch was oddly satisfying.

She felt she knew him better now than ever. That she had learnt more about who he really was in the time she had been sired than in all the time they had spent together before that.

"I... can't do this right now, Stefan... I... I need some time to adjust... everything's so... muted... quiet..."

Elena sat up, her movements felt sluggish, and she felt heavy and tied down and most of all tired. So, so _tired_.

Stefan nodded, his brooding face was back, and yet there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes that would have made her feel guilty, except she was still irritated, and her dull human emotions didn't seem to be able to incorporate more than one feeling at a time for the moment.

"We'll talk tomorrow, ok?"

"Sure" Stefan replied, his voice carefully neutral as he left through the window, revealing that he hadn't yet taken his dosage of the cure.

Bonnie had offered them all some. Stefan and Damon had accepted, but held off on taking it. Caroline had refused outright, she was better as a Vampire.

As far as Elena knew, Rebecca had been the only one apart from herself who had taken the cure already.

The newly human Elena stood carefully, feeling heavy and slow. She frowned. She didn't feel herself. Didn't feel right. She stumbled into the bathroom and turned the shower on.

She was trying to move fast, and her muscles were cramping when she expected a motion to happen before her body had been able to complete it.

After what felt like forever, she was standing under the hot spray, letting it burn her skin in an attempt to clear her head.

Would Damon have this trouble if he took the cure?

Damon!

Her mind seemed so sluggish at the moment she almost couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of him yet. The sire bond had kept him in her thoughts almost constantly and as much as she wanted to dive from the shower and grab her phone, just to hear his voice, she stopped herself.

A much easier thing to do now, considering that as a Vampire, she'd have barely finished the thought before hearing the dialling tone as she waited for him to pick up.

She couldn't call him until she knew what she was going to do. It wasn't fair. On him or Stefan.

Elena finished her shower and got dressed in some fresh clothes. Clean clothes.

She felt more herself, but still removed. No longer a vampire, but more than human.

She stared at her phone for a long moment, before picking it up and calling Bonnie.

"Elena? You're awake! How do you feel?"

"Hey Bonnie... Can... Can I talk to you?"

"Sure, Elena... What's wrong?"

"I just..." She suddenly found herself fighting tears, and her voice cracked when she tried to continue, "I need my best friend, Bonnie... Can... Can I come over?"

There was a beat of silence before Elena winced as she remembered Bonnie's dad.

"Is it ok if I come to you?" the young witch asked suddenly and Elena nodded instantly.

"Yes, of course... I just... need someone to talk to about all this..."

"Of course," Bonnie murmured sympathetically, and Elena could already feel the tension flooding out of her shoulders, "I'll be right there"

Elena heard the connection click off and hung up, turning her head towards her bedroom door and jerking suddenly, startled to see her brother standing there. She hadn't heard him, seen him... smelt him and she simply stared, feeling her heart racing as adrenaline flooded her system and then the tears fought their way free as she flung herself into his arms, and Jeremy caught her in a crushing hug.

"Why are you crying?" he asked her a few moments later, despite the tell tale glint in his own eyes and Elena shook her head.

"I miss it Jer, I miss being faster, stronger-"

"Human blood? Being sired?"

"No!" Her crying got harder, and her brother seemed to let the topic drop, rubbing his sister's back. Honestly, it was about time she let everything she felt out. As a vampire, with heightened emotions, it had been too dangerous to risk, but now Jeremy was happy to let Elena have some time to break down and put the pieces back together.

"I never wanted to be a vampire," she whispered finally, and Jeremy felt the hunter in him shudder, but he held it in check and focussed on his sisters words.

"But now that I'm human again... I... I miss it, Jer.. and I shouldn't and I feel awful that I do but I can't stop-"

The doorbell stopped her words, and she pulled back from Jeremy's embrace suddenly, rubbing her hands over her face to dry away what tears she could.

"Are you going to be ok?"

Elena met her brother's eyes and shrugged, "Honestly?"

When Jeremy just waited, she found she had to turn away, her eyes roaming her bedroom for something to settle on, but only finding their way back to her brother's worried face.

"I don't know..."

The doorbell rang again, and they both turned to face the stairs, before Jeremy jogged out of the room, heading to answer it.

Elena could hear Bonnie, and then Jeremy's voice... and they talked.. and then fresh tears fell as it drove home that she was human again.

Footsteps on the stairs made her try and stop crying, but she wasn't fast enough, and Bonnie's comforting embrace was around her before she could fight it, and Elena found herself crumbling.

It was too much. She hadn't wanted the cure anyway, hadn't wanted Jeremy hunting vampire's. The only reason she went along was because of that damn sire bond!

Bonnie was talking, whispering meaningless comforts and rubbing Elena's back gently, but none of it matter.

Slowly, Elena let herself settle to the floor, Bonnie's arms wrapped around her, and her own hands clinging to her best friend like a lifeline as they rocked their way through Elena's transition back into humanity.

* * *

It took hours.

Elena's mood shifted through almost every emotion she'd ever felt and then some.

She cried. Then she was angry, then jealous, then grieving. Bonnie's head was spinning with the speed Elena's mood shifted and neither girl slept that night.

Dawn was cresting the skyline now as they both lay on Elena's bed, her head on Bonnie's shoulder as the witch ran comforting fingers through her best friends long brown locks.

"How do you feel?" Bonnie whispered as she watched the sunrise over Elena's shoulder, and felt her friend sigh.

"I feel... like I've been really selfish" she whispered back, and Bonnie stared at Elena in surprise.

"Selfish? What-?"

"Damon and Stefan want to know how I feel about them, and I've just..."

"Transitioned into a human, Elena! I'm sure, if they love you like they both claim, they'll give you some time to adjust!"

Elena didn't answer and Bonnie's frame tensed, dragging a placating "I know" from her friend, that didn't do much to melt the witch's indignation.

"You take all the time you need to adjust, Elena, telling Damon that you don't feel for him is going to be hard enough"

Elena pulled back a little and gazed at Bonnie for a moment, with such an intense gaze at the young witch almost stopped breathing.

"I know what I have to do... but... but first, I need to find out some answers... to my questions on my terms" Elena finally murmured, and Bonnie frowned, confused and not quite able to work out the odd tone to her friends voice.

"What's... going on, Elena?"

"Do you, or maybe your mom... Do you know any witches I could talk to?"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I aologise for any formatting issues in this chapter, but i'm posting from my blackberry so there may be some issues I'll need to fix later.

* * *

"_Witches?" Bonnie asked, "Why do you need to talk to witches?"_

"_There are... questions that I need answer's to... Questions I don't want biased responses to, and I need to ask someone who doesn't know anything about the situation in Mystic falls to be sure of that" Elena admitted._

_There was a thread of steel in her gaze and Bonnie knew that it would be pointless arguing. This was something Elena wouldn't back down on._

"_I'll come with you then -"_

"_You can't" Elena cut in gently, smiling at the growing confusion on Bonnie's face, "I need you to keep Stephan and especially Damon in Mystic Falls"_

"_What?" She stared at Elena, wondering briefly if she'd done something wrong, if the cure damaged Elena's mind in some way, but her friends gaze was clear, "How am I supposed to do that?"_

"_Tell them I'm still adjusting, tell them the transition from Vampire to human was tiring... stall them long enough so that when you have to tell them I'm not in Mystic falls, they will have no way to track me, because I trust that you won't actually tell them where I'm going to be going... right Bonnie?"_

Bonnie snapped out of the memory as someone hammered on her front door and she sighed. Elena had been gone a week now, and she knew who would be waiting on the other side of her front door. Setting aside her cup of tea that had gone cold while she was lost in memories she moved towards the door as the hammering suddenly stopped, making her pause before opening it.

"Bonnie? We just want to talk..." Stefan called through the door and she found herself rolling her eyes as the placating note to his voice.

_He_ may want to talk, but Damon had been the one almost tearing her door off it's hinges.

She opened it slowly and watched the two vampires with an unimpressed frown at their previous display of impatience.

"What?"

Damon was glaring at her, and was the one to speak for the two brothers.

"Look, we know she's not at home, and Rebekah's already recovered from the cure, and I'm pretty sure that she was a vampire a _hell_ of a lot longer than Elena, so where is she, Witch?"

She would never admit it, but Damon's fiery blue glare still terrified some small part of Bonnie, so she lifted her chin and stared the furious vampire down.

"She went looking for answers"

"What?"

Bonnie let her gaze shift to Stephan for a moment, before refocussing on the more deadly brother, although that was becoming debatable. Elena had been a good influence on Damon, no matter the circumstances.

"She had questions she wanted answers to, so she went looking for someone who could help her"

"Why didn't she come to me?" Stephan asked, his tone confused, but not forlorn or lovesick, and Bonnie felt ill. Stephan had been good for Elena, she really hoped the two of them could fix their problems.

"Because she knows you've got a vested interest in the answers, brother... so have I... and so has the witch, or barbie vampire or anyone else she could go to in this bloody town..."

Damon kicked at a small stone and Bonnie watched the tension in his shoulder go up several notches, and suddenly he was right in front of her, and her hand twitched, ready to take him to his knees if he moved so much as an inch closer.

"Is she safe?"

Bonnie had expected that question from Stephan, but the deep, soul searching look Damon was giving her meant she couldn't even glance around to see his brother's face, she just nodded, answering without thought.

"Yes..."

Damon nodded, and turned. Leaving without another word and dragging a protesting Stephan along with him.

Bonnie watched them go and frowned. Maybe... Maybe Elena had been right, maybe Damon had changed? Or maybe he had always been that soft... that gentle and that caring... and maybe Elena had been the only one of them who had risked digging enough to find that hidden centre he had kept so carefully guarded.

Bonnie shook her head. This was Damon. He just wanted to have something he wasn't supposed to. To beat Stephan.

Bonnie's scowl darkened and she closed her front door.

DEDEDEDEDE

"_Hello?"_

"_You come seeking answers, child?"_

_Elena jumped, and stared at the woman who had just descended some stairs that Elena hadn't even noticed._

"_Yes... I was wondering if you could help me... I'm doing some research, you see and-"_

"_I know why you're here child, and I don't need to hear the tale you've spun"_

_The woman approached her slowly, and took her hand in long cold fingers, but something in her eyes and her smile reminded Elena of Bonnie's Grams, and she relaxed._

"_That's better... I'll let you ask one question, child... and only one, make it good._

_Elena frowned, and shook her head, "But wh-"_

"_ah ah! Careful child," the old witch moved and poured tea from a pot into two cups, "only one question, remember? Do you take sugar? Milk?"_

_Elena nodded, and was gently ushered into a chair, tea placed before her, and left to think as the old witch sat across from her and watched her problems paint themselves across her face._

_She may have sat there minutes, or days, but eventually Elena blinked from her thoughts and moved her eyes to the Witches watching gaze._

"_How is a vampire sire bond created?"_

_The woman's smile told Elena she had asked the right question._

"_A Sire bond is only formed when the human has real feelings for the vampire that turns them, before they are turned."_

She opened the front door quietly, but still found herself face to face with a stake laden crossbow.

Jeremy immediately lowered the weapon, and a grin spread across his face.

"Elena!"

The young woman dropped her bag and let Jeremy pick her up, spinning her into a hug that drew a soft giggle of laughter from her.

"I missed you Jer!"

"You're the one who snuck off to god knows where" he complained easily, teasing her as he dropped her back to the ground, "Find what you were looking for?" he asked and Elena shrugged, her grin softening to a smile.

"I think so, yeah... hey, Jer? Can you still talk to ghosts?"

"I... don't know, I haven't tried, why?"

Elena bit her lip, hesitating, "I was just hoping for a bit of confirmation on something, I suppose..."

When Jeremy kept watching her, waiting for her to continue, Elena just laughed and shook her head.

"Nevermind, hey you want to order in a pizza? Hang out? My treat..." she promised grinning, and laughed as Jeremy scooped her into another hug.

They spent the evening relaxing and nibbling on junk food. Jeremy caught Elena up on the oddly quiet happenings of Mystic Falls since she'd left a month previous, and peppered his sister with questions about where she'd been and what she'd been looking for, but she dodged as many questions as she answered.

"How have Stefan and Damon been?" She asked as they two siblings began clearing away the rubbish and tidying the living room.

Jeremy sighed as he felt the sudden shift from fun to... Whatever the supernatural part of their life was supposed to be.

"Well, Damon's pretty much moved into the Grill, and drunk his way through their bar... And Stefan's... Stefan" Jeremy replied carefully, before staring at his sister.

"He's been trying to find you, worried you might be hurt or worse"

He was watching for a reaction, otherwise he might have missed the flash of annoyance in Elena's eyes. He wasn't surprised, Elena had never liked being treated like glass, and now was no different.

"Do you know what you're going to do?" He asked her, and she sighed, running a hand through her hair and pulling the long strands back off her face as she nodded.

"But no one's going to like it" she added, but Jeremy just laughed.

"It's your life, Elena, you have to do what you want for a change, and stop worrying about everyone else"

Suddenly she was his older sister again as her eyes sparkled and she grinned. The Elena he'd looked up to, the cheerleader and party girl, the one from before their parent's died and she nodded.

"I know, Jer... Thank you"

"So?"

She glanced back at him and he grinned, "What are you going to do?"

DEDEDEDEDE

As much as she wanted to talk to Bonnie, hang out with Jeremy and catch up with Caroline, Elena knew that she had to deal with what she had mentally nicknamed 'The Salvatore Situation'.

She knew what she wanted to say, to them both, but what she didn't know was which of them to talk to first.

She spent the time making breakfast the following morning considering it. Elena knew that really, she had to speak to Stefan first, they'd been through so much together that he deserved that, but she couldn't let Damon's over active imagination sabotage everything. Couldn't let him lash out.

**TO: **Damon

**From:** Elena

**9.12am**

_Do you trust me?_

_._

**TO: **Elena

**FROM: **Damon

**9.13am**

_Yes._

_._

**TO:** Damon

**FROM:** Elena

**9.15am**

_Then please trust me, and don't let yourself jump to conclusions x_

_._

**TO: **Stefan

**FROM: **Elena

**9.19am**

_We need to talk, can you meet me at my house after breakfast?_

**.**

**TO:** Elena

**FROM:** Stefan

**9.23am**

_Sure. I'll be there x_

.

Elena sighed, running a hand through her hair and letting her phone drop to the kitchen counter as Jeremy stumbled into the kitchen.

"Hey"

Jeremy grunted and pulled the bacon sandwich she'd made towards him.

"So... I've asked Stefan to stop b after breakfast..." She started and Jeremy perked up a little, although he still reached for the jug of coffee.

"Right, I'll go hang with Matt at the Grill" he cut in, before she could even ask and Elena smiled.

"Thanks, Jer"

"No worries, hey... Good luck, ok?"

Elena nodded and ran upstairs to get dressed, letting her brother finish his breakfast in peace.

DEDEDEDEDE

"Elena wants me to go round after breakfast," Stefan called across to his brother, but Damon's features never moved and Stefan frowned.

He wanted to get a rise, a reaction, anything but all Damon did was raise his crystal tumbler of blood and take a sip.

They hadn't really spoken since the night Jeremy had killed Kol.

Argued? Fought? Sniped at each other? Sure, but not just talked.

"You can mope around here all day if you want, Damon, but you knew it couldn't last!" Stefan tried again, and the ripper in him wanted to smile as he watched Damon tense at his words, his brothers anger building slowly.

"You're going to be late, brother" Damon finally said after another mouthful of blood and Stefan frowned before shaking his head.

Everything was about to sort itself out and fall into it's proper place after all, Elena was human once again and the sire bond was broken, Damon was back to making his life miserable and Stefan had managed to put himself back on the diet of animal blood while Elena had been away searching for answers to questions Stefan could only guess at.

He left the house without saying anything else to Damon and didn't notice the blue eyes on his back as the other vampire watched him go.

Damon picked up his phone and brushed a thumb over the screen, re-reading the messages from Elena and sighing, draining his glass.

All he could do was hope that her requests meant what he thought they did, and Damon resigned himself to waiting just a little bit longer as he grabbed his jacket and left for his now regular seat at the Grill.


End file.
